Jim Florio

PRINCETON - Shirley Kauffman, former president of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, died Monday at 82 after a long battle with cancer.

"Shirley was an outstanding member of the community and will be greatly missed," PCDO President Jenny Crumiller said in an email to Democrats. "For many years she was the backbone of the PCDO."

Democrats in Princeton knew Kauffman as a hard-nosed veteran of political campaigns and activist for progressive causes.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) worked with Kauffman on the late Barbara Boggs Sigmund’s Democratic Primary race for governor in 1989, when Sigmund ran against Alan Karcher and eventual winner Jim Florio.

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Anne Martindell (1914-2008) served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1974 to 1977.State Sen. Anne Martindell of Princeton, who died yesterday at 93, championed the underdog throughout a life marked by public service and a thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. In the words of her son, Princeton Councilman Roger Martindell, "she fought for what she believed in, and she was gracious in the fight."

Elected to the state Senate as a Democrat in 1973 as part of the Watergate backlash that landed a number of Democrats in the Statehouse to form a 28-12 Democratic majority, Martindell served one term before becoming President Jimmy Carter’s Ambassador to New Zealand.

In her eighties, she doubled back on the college career she never completed. Sixty-years after leaving Smith College following her freshman year, Martindell obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Smith and an honorary doctorate of law in 2002.

On Thursday, news of her death brought forth an outpouring of goodwill from those who knew her and those with whom she served in Trenton, including former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne.

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The two New Jersey House seats most clearly in play next year are the two that have been held by the Republicans for the longest period of time: Democrats have not won the seat now held by Jim Saxton for 126 years, and Mike Ferguson’s district has not elected a Democrat since 1954.

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Is a lawsuit – settled out of court last month – against Donald DiFrancesco’s law firm alleging that the former Governor sexually harassed an attorney at this firm and then fired her the reason why against DiFrancesco Bateman Coley Yospin Kunzman Davis & Lehrer has a low percentage of women lawyers?  Of the nineteen partners at the firm, which includes State Senator Christopher Bateman, only one is a woman; the other eighteen are white men.  Of the eleven associates, eight are men; and three of the four Of Counsel are white men

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The powerful South Jersey Democratic machine has lost their last three statewide primaries: Rob Andrews for Governor in 1997, Jim Florio for U.S. Senate in 2000, and Andrews for Senate in 2008.  That doesn’t say much for the supposed influence of party leader George Norcross, who so far has not been able to extend his clout outside his own region on the state.  Norcross, who was the driving force behind Florio '00 and Andrews '08, was able to help Andrews win some key endorsements in northern New Jersey, but no organizational endorsements or county lines.  Norcross is enormously powerful – ultimately, winning two State Senate seats in 2007 was more important to his organization than a U.S. Senate seat -- but is he just a regional guy?

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Rob Andrews thought he could build on a solid base in South Jersey, but in the end he polled considerably less votes than Jim Florio did in his 2000 Democratic Senate primary against Jon Corzine.  Florio won about 182,000 votes, while Andrews won about 101,000.  And in the Republican Senate primary, Murray Sabrin received about 10,000 votes less than he did when he ran eight years ago.

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Sherron Rolax, the African American teenager who had his picture in newspapers and on television stations throughout the country after being frisked by the Governor of New Jersey during a midnight police raid in Camden in 1996, was killed in a fight in Camden early Saturday morning. The frisking became an issue in late 2000 when Christine Todd Whitman was named U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency Director. Eight years ago, PoliticsNJ.com named Rolax to the Andy Warhol List of New Jerseyans who had enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame during the 2000 camaign cycle.

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Republicans in New Jersey’s first congressional district haven’t run a strong campaign since the days of John Hunt, who held the seat from 1966 until Jim Florio beat him in 1974, and their chances of winning the strongly Democratic seat in 2008 – against whomever the Democrats ultimately decide to nominate – is indeed slim.  But their candidate, conservative Dale Glading, is already mounting an impressive effort.  A minister who runs the largest athletic prison ministry in the country, is aggressive and hardworking, and local Republicans actually seem enthused about his candidacy.  

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Former Governors Brendan Byrne and Jim Florio, both supporters of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, were named tonight as Unpledged Delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

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New Jersey Democrats haven’t had a real statewide primary in eight years – the last time was in 2000, when newcomer Jon Corzine beat former Governor Jim Florio’s South Jersey-based coalition in the U.S. Senate primary by a 58%-42% margin.

In the eleven primaries since Democrats last lost a U.S. Senate race in 1972, eight of them have been virtually uncontested. In 1978, basketball star Bill Bradley beat the establishment choice, State Treasurer Richard Leone, by a 59%-26% margin, with ex-State Sen. Alexander Menza receiving 9%. And in 1982, newcomer Frank Lautenberg won a ten candidate primary with 26% of the vote against former Reps. Andrew Maguire (23%) and Joseph LeFante (20%), and Princeton Mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund (11%). Six other candidates – businessman Howard Rosen, former state Banking Commissioner Angelo Bianchi, Passaic County Freeholder Cyril Yannarelli, labor leader Frank Forst, Richard McAleer, and Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello combined for the remaining votes. Cresitello, who is running again this year, finished last with 4,295 votes statewide.

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